a star linebacker’s wellknown story of his girlfriend’s death has been shattered this week, and his well-known name is now the center of controversy.
The revelations regarding
manti Te’o have made for a complex, confusing story. a nd for a student body sorting through the news of the past two days, there are more
see manTi PAGE 6
By ANN MARIE JAKUBOWSKI news writer
The contention over the united states fiscal policy has boiled down to a matter of rearranging the deck chairs on the Titanic, economics professor e ric sims said.
members of the u s c ongress reached a compromise on december’s fiscal cliff crisis, a decision that was catalyzed by the expiration of the bush administration’s tax cuts that had been extended in 2010 to alleviate the recession.
The deal, made on Jan. 2, did not increase taxes for the majority of the population, but it also did not address the issue of national spending cuts. i f c ongress had failed to act, taxes increases would have happened immediately along with government spending cuts known as sequestration effected across the board.
The frustrating inaction and seemingly endless debate among members of c ongress
was the result of a tension between the short run and long run needs of the national economy, according to sims.
“To understand where this is coming from, the debt ceiling in the united states is congressionally mandated,” sims said. “ we have [more than] 11 trillion [dollars] in total debt outstanding now, and mandates say the debt can’t exceed X [amount of] dollars, though historically we’ve always increased that.
“it’s natural that we would run large annual deficits during a time of recession, because taxes are lower and spending is higher,” sims said. “i n this case, it was exacerbated by the political showdown of 2010 and the recent economic sluggishness from the great recession.” i n a time of recession, a typical fiscal policy increases spending and decreases taxes to foster economic recovery and growth. however, with the national debt
By TABITHA RICKETTS news writer
The holy cross harvest is rallying saint mary’s, notre dame and holy cross campuses in a common cause to support the community through food drives. The drives will extend from Jan. 28 to Feb. 15 on the university of notre dame and saint mary’s college campuses, and throughout the month of February at holy cross college.
all three institutions will have collection boxes for non-perishable foods available on their campuses. notre dame’s boxes will be available in both locations of the hammes bookstore. saint mary’s will have them in the atrium of the student center, in the lobby of spes unica hall, and by the front desk in le mans hall.
online donations are also possible through the websites of the various organizations each school will be supporting.
“all of our efforts will go to st. vincent de paul Food pantry,” patricia adams, director of community engagement at holy cross, said. holy cross will be utilizing the people gotta eat website at www. uwsjc.org for online contributions.
saint mary’s has chosen the Food bank of northern indiana to be the beneficiary of their drive.
“[They were] chosen because they serve six area counties, not just st. Joseph [county]. They provide food to 185 agencies in these six counties,” director of the office of civic and social engagement at saint mary’s erika buhring said. “by providing
5
By NICOLE McALEE n ews w riter
Thanks to a new service offered by university health s ervices ( uhs ) in conjunction with walgreens p harmacy, it will now be easier for notre d ame students to fill their prescription medications through private insurance companies. walgreens at uhs is a new pharmacy management service offered by uhs allowing students to use private insurance for payment of prescriptions.
d irector of university health s ervices a nn e k leva, r n., msa , explained that uhs felt the need to update their pharmacy services to better serve students.
“it’s not so much a policy change as a provision of
services. … we needed to look and see where we were going in the future and what would be the best service for our students,” k leva said. “it surely was in the best interest
of the students where we could file right from our system for private insurance.” p reviously, students could
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The
Ben Hiles sophomore alumni hall
“g et straight a s.”
Joe Pautsch freshman morrissey manor
“work out three times a week.”
Mike Mercurio senior morrissey manor
“appear on the notre dame website homepage. c heck.”
Janie Zhang freshman pasquerilla east hall
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“sleep earlier and complete homework on time.”
Mike Ginocchio freshman morrissey manor
“my new year’s resolution is to be more organized in every facet of my life.”
Freshman Nicole Guerrero is interviewed on South Quad by ABC News for “Good Morning America.” Media networks descendend on the Notre Dame campus early Thursday morning after Deadspin.com reported that former Irish linebacker Manti Te’o’s girlfriend was a hoax.
Friday
“Roe and the Culture War that Followed” Reckers
12 p.m.-2 p.m. Professors for Lunch.
Film: “The Perks of Being a Wallflower” DeBartolo Performing Arts Center
9:30 p.m.-11:15 p.m.
Based on a novel by Stephen Chbosky.
Have a question you want answered? Email obsphoto@gmail.com Want your event included here? Email obsnews.nd@gmail.com
Saturday
Indoor Track and Field Invitational
Loftus Sports Center
10 a.m.-3 p.m. Mayo Field.
Chicago Sinfonietta DeBartolo Performing Arts Center
7:30 p.m.- 9:20 p.m.
A performance by America’s most diverse orchestra.
Sunday
Mass at the Basilica Basilica of the Sacred Heart
11:45 a.m.-12:45 p.m.
Music by the Folk Choir.
Moreau Day Scavenger Hunt Coleman-Morse Center
2 p.m.-5 p.m.
Campus Ministry staff will provide clues.
Monday
Prayer Service for Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.
Main Building Rotunda
11:45 a.m.-12:15 p.m.
Reception to follow.
“Sexul Abuse in the Church: Where Are We Now?”
McKenna Hall
7:30 p.m.-9 p.m.
Lecture by Kathleen McChesney.
Tuesday
Exploring Career Options
114 Flanner Hall
12:00 p.m.-1:00 p.m. Five week workshop.
Summer Service Learning Program Information Session Geddes Hall
5:30 p.m.-6:30 p.m. Find ways to reach out to people in need.
By CHARITHA ISANAKA news writer
at notre dame, ethics matter as much as the almighty dollar when it comes to learning business.
This past december, bloomberg businessweek mba specialty ranking announced that the university of notre dame mba program ranked no.1 for ethics.
“The ranking is a wonderful recognition of our values-based approach to business, which is foundational to the mission of notre dame and the mendoza college,” mary goss, senior director of the notre dame mba, stated in a press release. “it’s not a trend for us, but the essential core of what we do, who we are and what kind of business leaders we hope to develop.”
These rankings are based on the mba class on 2012’s ratings of their program’s ethics offerings from one point for “poor” through six points for “outstanding.”
The average ethics score for all 82 u s. and international schools in the ranking were 4.64, according to bloomberg businessweek. notre dame’s mendoza college of business was at the top of the list with a score of 5.87 out of 6, followed by university of virginia’s darden school of business and indiana university’s kelley school of business.
Joseph holt, director of ethics programs in the executive education program, and concurrent assistant professor of managemen, at the universityssaid that “ethics is integrated into our mba program both because of who we are and what we offer our students, and because of who they are and what they bring to us.
“i say that ethics is to business
as a foundation and skeletal frame are to a building,” holt said. “ethics in business is also critical because companies will not get the most of their employees, and society will not bet the best from companies, unless employees see the work they are doing as consistent with the values that define them morally and spiritually.”
There is a required ethics course that engages students in stimulating and mutually enriching discussions about particular dilemmas but also about larger questions such as how to create a values-based company and how best to measure success in life as a whole.
in addition to the required ethics course, students must choose at least one ethics electivedfrom the rich variety of options involving marketing, finance, accounting, sustainability, international business ethic, and spirituality of work.
“i believe that our students can and do help create values-based companies like that in their leadership roles after graduation,” holt said.
The student-created “mba values statement” hangs in every classroom;sstudents spend a full day on community service as part of orientatio; and most faculty teaching core business discipline courses also integrate ethics into their courses.
“high rankings are a good thing so long as we remain concerned first and foremost to be the best business school that we know how to be consistently with the mission and values that define notre dame, and only secondarily concerned with being recognized as a great business school,” holt said.
Contact Charitha Isanaka at cisanaka@nd.edu
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By CAROLYN HUTYRA n ews w riter
i n an area plagued by conflict, a push toward democracy may appear reasonable, but when dealing with the m iddle e ast, some question whether such tactics are actually a mistake. a uthor John a gresto presented his views on the issue at a lecture Thursday night supported by the k ellogg i nstitute and the undergraduate minor in c onstitutional s tudies p rogram.
a gresto began his lecture with a story that involved his first journey to i raq in 2003. he recalled a conversation he had with the dean of one of the colleges of science at the university of b aghdad. This man could not understand why a mericans were truly present in i raq. a gresto said that though he could not speak for everyone, he believed a mericans were present to help.
“[The man replied] no one leaves home and country and family to go to another country to help. it’s unnatural,” a gresto said.
working as a civilian for the p entagon in i raq from 2003 to 2010, his views changed significantly over time. e ntering the nation, he said he was a strong believer of u s . efforts and thought a democratic system could successfully be transported to the m iddle e ast.
“ we managed to help many of the formerly occupied nations of e astern e urope, c zechoslovakia, hungary, p oland and elsewhere become viable, stable, and free democracies. Taking nations from autocracy and tyranny to some variety of freedom and democracy seems quite normal to us a mericans,” he said.
a life of freedom seems natural to the a merican people, yet a gresto pointed out that a transfer from autocracy to democracy could not successfully materialize in the m iddle e ast.
“b ecause i tended to believe that all people yearn for freedom and deserve to govern themselves i thought that what we were attempting was good for i raq and all i raqis,” he said.
a gresto said he wanted to see a democratic nation rise from the ashes of tyranny. h is thoughts were that an international friend was forming and perhaps also an ally for a merica.
a gresto also thought a liberal democracy would bring peace to the region, but the gap between expectations and reality only lengthened.
“There were political parties and elections and the writing of a constitution, but the peace, the toleration, the personal liberties, the moderation of violent passions that we hoped would follow in the wake of democracy’s advent seemed to be further away than ever,” a gresto said.
s omething was clearly wrong. d emocracies, recognized as the pillar of a merican foreign policy and a most desirable form of government, were failing to materialize in the m iddle e ast.
a gresto said a more democratic a fghanistan was recognized yet not one c hristian church, charitable organization or school remained in the country.
“p erhaps one might want to look at the democratic mobs in l ibya executing all blacks they capture, men and women,” he said.
a gresto marveled at how so many could continue to support a view of democracy in the m iddle e ast that was producing results contrary to the standard concepts of freedom, security and peace commonly attached to the system.
“i think our understanding of government was defective,” he said. “ w hat we are learning the hard way in the m iddle e ast is that there is little in politics harder to create than just and stable democracy.”
The success of democracy in the u s . has perhaps led a mericans to think that
government can simply be willed into being, he said. a liberal democracy that is just is a challenge to create and even harder to maintain.
“nothing takes more art, more human effort, and more intelligence to design than a good democracy,” he said. a gresto said especially in the m iddle e ast people want to hold onto their customs and traditions. a mericans may wish to say that all people deserve freedom, but that all people desire it is flat out wrong.
a gresto then posed the question, “d on’t all people yearn for freedom?” he said the assumed answer was yes, but the real one was no. he said s ome people hold other goods in higher esteem. For instance, some value holiness, safety and instruction over freedom. s ome cultures are not conditioned to build a free and liberal democracy, he said.
“d emocracy, we need to understand, is rule by the people. d emocracy, more than any other government, takes on the character of its people,” a gresto said.
a nation that is intolerant or radically sectarian cannot form a successful democracyo a gresto said. he said if there is no patriotism, no real love of neighbor, no willingness to compromise then a democracy is close to impossible.
“Freedom and democracy have political, social, and cultural preconditions,” he said. There are nations in which such preconditions are absent. a gresto said the protection and growth of liberty requires certain institutions and political arrangements. p olitical monitoring is necessary, and majority decisions are required in order to run a temperate, tolerant and just system.
“c ulture, especially religious culture, can make or break the prospects of democracy,” a gresto said.
Contact Carolyn Hutyra at chutyra@nd.edu
By MARISA IATI
s tudents can now satisfy their burrito and frozen yogurt cravings with just a swipe of their id cards.
c hipotle on n orth e ddy s treet and l et’s s poon on e dison r oad began accepting d omer d ollars at the beginning of the spring semester. d omer d ollars are money added to a student’s id card so it functions as a debit account.
“ we received a letter from the u niversity letting us know that that option was out there … and we jumped on it,” h olly l ederer, owner of l et’s s poon, said. “ e specially our location at e dison r oad, most of our clientele is n otre d ame, s aint m ary’s and h oly c ross students, so we thought this would be something that would make it even more convenient for them.”
b ritney b arnett, general
con
not fill prescriptions using private insurance. They had to pay the full price of the medication—sometimes 500 to 1,000 dollars per refill, according to k leva — and the full charges of the medication were applied to the student’s account for them or their parents to pay or file with insurance.
“ we were a private, university-owned pharmacy and we did not have the capabilities of filling private insurance prescriptions. e ither the student or the parent, if they wanted any reimbursement at all, needed to file with the private insurance company,” k leva said.
now, the walgreens pharmacy in uhs fills prescriptions through private insurance. s tudents may pay a co-pay (a small portion of the actual cost of the prescription) according to their individual private insurance at the time of service.
“ w ith insurance, oftentimes going to the physician’s office you pay a small portion
manager of the c hipotle location, said employees ring up d omer d ollar sales similarly to how they ring up credit and debit card sales, but the process involves a few more steps. s tudents sign their receipts the same way they do in credit and debit card transactions.
l et’s s poon had to make only minimal changes to accept d omer d ollars, l ederer said.
“ we have a new card reader just for that program and we’ve had to make a few changes as far as our point of sales system, our computer system,” she said. “ b ut really … it was pretty easy.”
a ccepting d omer d ollars has already benefited c hipotle, b arnett said. s he said the restaurant’s sales totaled approximately $8,000 m onday, which is $3,000 more than it earns on an average m onday.
“ we already have a bunch of n otre d ame students who
of the service and the insurance company pays the rest.
… The students only have to pay their copay, whereas before students that were on medication that could cost 500 dollars to 1,000 dollars monthly,” k leva said.
s o far, the new pharmacy service has been a resounding
“We have students with exceptional needs who need exceptional support and we are still working with Walgreens to serve those students that truly have more needs.”
Ann E. Kleva director University Health Services
success.
“o ur business officer, c onnie morrow, said she has received [more than] 180 phone calls expressing satisfaction,” k leva said.
come in, but it has already brought in … more customers,” b arnett said.
The l et’s s poon at e dison r oad is currently the brand’s only location accepting d omer d ollars, l ederer said. The new store in the u niversity p ark m all in m ishawaka may implement d omer d ollars in the future, she said, but there is currently no official plan to do so.
l ederer said it is unlikely the e ast i reland r oad location will accept d omer d ollars because it gets very little business from students.
h owever, she said, overall that l et’s s poon’s acceptance of d omer d ollars is positive.
“ we hope to bring more business,” l ederer said. “ we’re really excited about it. we hope the convenience of it brings more people through the door.”
Contact Marisa Iati at miati@nd.edu
s he noted that students might still use the uhs pharmacy service even if they have concerns about finances or confidentiality, or other special needs. “ we have students with exceptional needs who need exceptional support and we are still working with walgreens to serve those students that truly have more needs,” k leva said. “a ny student with a special need can still speak to our business office about self-pay or confidentiality.”
k leva said that walgreens was a natural choice for uhs after the opening of the Take c are/ walgreens e mployee wellness c enter in July 2012.
“The Take c are/ walgreens e mployee wellness c enter is operating on campus for employees only. however, prior partnership with the university made the decision to utilize walgreens/Take c are for uhs pharmacy management a natural one as we continually look for ways to improve services for our students,” k leva said.
Contact Nicole McAlee at nmaclee@nd.edu
By BRIDGET FEENEY a ssociate s aint mary’s e ditor
The e arly c hildhood d evelopment c enters ( ecdc ) on the notre dame and s aint mary’s campus will hold a series of open houses in the next month for prospective parents to gain a better understanding of the program.
s aint mary’s first open house is scheduled for Jan. 20 and notre dame’s first is Jan. 27. k ari a lford, program director at s aint mary’s, said these open houses are a great way for families and children to explore the options and education available at ecdc
“o pen houses are designed for families interested in enrolling their child at ecdc ,” she said. “o pen houses are a time for families to meet some of our staff, have a tour and to find out more information about our program and the registration process.”
s enior a nnie root, who works part-time at ecdc on the s aint mary’s campus as a teacher assistant, said she hopes the open houses are a success.
“The open houses are a great way for the parents to see what kind of atmosphere we have at ecdc ,” she said. “i think we have a lot to offer and i’m excited for the parents to see that.”
according to a lford, notre dame and s aint mary’s each have an ecdc on campus that serves different ages.
notre dame’s ecdc was founded in 1994 and is for children the age of two until they reach kindergarten. s aint mary’s ecdc , founded in 1971, educates young
children ages three to five. c hildren at both centers can attend preschool schedule for a morning, an afternoon, or an entire day. ecdc also offers summer recreational day camp opportunities for children through age 9, according to a lford.
“ we are a nonprofit program accredited by the national a ssociation for the e ducation of young c hildren ( naeyc ) and licensed by the i ndiana bureau of c hild d evelopment and staffed with degreed lead teachers,” a lford said.
w hile anyone from the community is encouraged to attend the open houses if they are interested in enrolling their children at either the s aint mary’s or notre dame ecdc , the centers accepts children who are associated with the schools first.
“ecdc enrolls families who are affiliated to nd or smc in the categories of faculty, administration, staff, student, and alum,” a lford said. “i f ecdc-smc has enrollment openings after enrolling affiliated families, non-affiliated families from the community are enrolled.”
a complete list of open house times for s aint mary’s ecdc , located in havican hall, and for notre dame ecdc , located on bulla road, can be found by visiting the website www. nd.edu/~ecdcnd/. a nyone with questions about ecdc or the open houses can contact a lford at kalford@saintmarys.edu.
Contact Bridget Feeney at bfeene01@saintmarys.edu
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approaching 100 percent of the gross domestic product ( gdp), economists are worried about the long term consequences of the gradual increase of the debt ceiling.
“Tax increases and spending cuts aren’t good for the short-term economy, but now there is concern that our debt is so big that eventually, other countries and other investors won’t want to take our debt if they doubt the full faith and credit of the u s. government,” sims said. “The basic gist of the deal was that taxes won’t go up for most people, just the higher-income brackets, and the spending issue was just punted farther down the line.”
i n the economic long run, the increased taxes and decreased spending are exactly what the nation needs in order to remedy the national debt issues, according to sims. The fiscal cliff compromise is intended only
to address the short run situation, post-recession.
“‘g oing off the fiscal cliff’ would have meant no deal, taxes up for a lot of people, and sequestration, which means general spending cuts effective immediately,” sims said. “i n a sense, this is exactly what we needed to do, but the tension is in the fact that the higher taxing would have been bad for the short-term behavior of an economy finally in the beginning stages of recovery.”
e conomics professor robert
Flood said the issue of the spending cuts, or sequestration, must be addressed soon if any lasting progress is to be made. The threatened cuts, intended to force a compromise in c ongress, would have serious immediate implications.
“The sequester involves across-the-board cuts of eight to-10 percent in many domestic and military programs,” Flood said. “The yelling and screaming when this comes up will be deafening.”
people gotta eat, a united way coalition of 17 food pantries in the area.
Flood said the current deficit situation has prompted the panic of this particular negotiation.
“ we are now at about 39 percent of gdp spent by the Feds, which taxes about 27 percent of the gdp —taxes are low by historical standards,” Flood said. “The difference is the deficit.
“To get to fiscal balance, the u s. needs to reduce spending by 35 percent and increase
taxes by 35 percent. we need some big adjustments, and the fiscal cliff stuff negotiated at the year’s end solves about fiv5 percent of the problem.”
sims said the debt ceiling is projected to be reached in six weeks, which puts pressure on c ongress to come up with a new, more comprehensive deal by then to avoid a repeat of this situation. This time, they will not be able to avoid the question of spending and the national debt.
“They’ll have to address the spending cuts issue in six weeks, they’ll have to negotiate the higher debt ceiling and come up with cuts that will take place over the next several years,” sims said. “ we need lower taxes and higher expenditures in the long run, but it isn’t clear how we will do that.”
food and monetary donations to this one agency, the saint mary’s community can extend our help to many other agencies in our area.”
electronic donations can be made totheFoodbankthroughtheirwebsite at http://donations.feedindiana.org/.
“last year the money went to the [Food bank of northern indiana]’s backpack program,” senior technical training professional at the university’s office of information Technology anna kolaczyk said.
“This year we’re splitting the donations between several programs, but still supporting the backpack program.”
The Food bank of northern indiana’s Fun packs program provides a backpack of food for each weekend of the school year to underprivileged children.
notre dame is also supporting
“The united way of indiana has a grant that they’re giving this year to healthy eating programs, so any money given to people gotta eat will actually be doubled ... but there are people on campus who believe very strongly in the mission of the Food bank, so we are making it their choice,” kolaczyk said.
kolaczyk said that notre dame will divide up the cash donations equally between the two organizations, food will be sent to the people gotta eat pantries, and that donations by check will be sent to the organization the check is written out to. electronic donations can be made online at www. holycrossharvest.nd.edu/.
“The various organizations ... can do a lot more with the money than with the food,” kolaczyk said. “last year we raised 15,383 dollars. we are hoping to raise more this year.” holy cross has a head start on
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donations.
“already we have raised [more than] 1,400 dollars for the st. vincent de paul food pantry,” student programming coordinator at holy cross gonzalez said. “we will give st. vincent de paul this donation along with our other harvest drive donations.”
“For Faculty and staff, we are hoping to get 100 percent to make a cash donation or go online to people gotta eat,” adams said. “They are recording our donations and will give them to st vincent de paul Food bank.”
“i think we will probably raise more monetary donations [than food donations] based on past drives,” buhring said. “we will be happy to take contributions other than food. Families also often have trouble buying things like diapers, toilet paper, paper towels, tissues, baby formula and feminine products. saint mary’s will make sure these donations get to the right organizations.”
holy cross and notre dame are providing alternative donation opportunities as well, with students in mind.
“This winter we are giving the students the option of giving up one of their meals in the dining hall in exchange for a meal to feed those in need. sodexo [a food services and facilities management corporation] is helping us in this endeavor,” gonzalez said. “For every meal a student decides not to use throughout the month of February, sodexo will donate that money to our harvest drive.”
at notre dame, the student-aimed drive campaign is organized and run by a student service club on campus, affiliated with united way.
“we try to help the united way in any way possible,” Frank soler, the club’s president, said. “we’re their student arm. This will be our first year. ... we’re still growing, but i think we’ve been a pretty good success so far.”
soler and other club officers will staff a table outside of the huddle, the grocery story in laFortune student center, from 5 to 7 p.m. Friday night, encouraging students to purchase donation items from the huddle with Flex pointss.
“we wanted to do it in a time frame with the holy cross harvest,” said soler. “we thought it would be better at the beginning [of the semester] when people have a surplus of Flex points. The average student would be willing to buy a can. ... we want to let everyone do something easy.”
he said he has high expectations for the student response.
“we don’t have a specific number in mind, just whatever we can do,” soler said, whatever we get, we’ll be happy with, and we’ll just hope for the best.”
kolaczyk said she is glad to see this level of student participation.
“This is the first time students are really doing something for the drive,” she said. “it’s been hard to find the right student leadership to lead the food drive. Finding the right approach [for students on campus] is really important.”
shesaidtherearefewopportunities
for students to donate their time to the harvest, something that she thinks might increase student involvement.
“we really need to figure out ways for the students to be involved that doesn’t require spending money,” kolaczyk said. “if anyone has any ideas, i’d be happy to hear them!”
kolaczyk has also reached out to the notre dame alumni community to seek more participants in the harvest for the first time this year.
at saint mary’s, student volunteers will be in charge of monitoring the food donation barrels.
“when they look like they are filling up“we will contact the Food bank, who will come out and pick up the food.” buhring said.
buhring believes that the drive is important to the college community.
“it provides a chance for the campus to come together and provide needed assistance for others in the community,” buhring said. “it is also a chance to partner with holy cross college and the university of notre dame.”
“i think it’s great,” soler said. “it gives everyone an opportunity [to give] directly to our community.”
“so many times we are focused on notre dame itself, or saint mary’s, or holy cross, and i think joining something like this puts the focus off of our schools and onto what we can do to help,” kolaczyk said. “you should give because you’re supposed to and not because you want recognition for it.”
Contact Tabitha Ricketts at tricke01@saintmarys.edu
questions than answers. notre dame d irector of athletics Jack swarbrick began to answer some of those swirling questions wednesday evening at a press conference. he confirmed l ennay kekua’s existence was indeed a hoax. he confirmed the university had investigated the incident. but he also deferred a number of questions, claiming the details are “manti’s story to tell.” yet beyond a brief statement about what he called “an incredibly embarrassing” situation, manti’s story is still untold. since Te’o has not yet spoken publicly beyond that statement, students can only speculate to fill his silence. a nd suddenly, Facebook and Twitter have exploded with students’ reactions to a relationship that appears to have existed only in that realm of social media.
student opinion is mixed, with little consensus. s ome stand by notre dame’s version of events and loyally defend Te’o. s ome, convinced by the original d eadspin story and subsequent revelations, are disgusted with what they see
“I think the students of Notre Dame and fans in general deserve to know what exactly happened with this.”
John-Paul Zebrowski sophomore
as their erstwhile hero’s complicity. but while almost all have their theories of what happened, many are simply
waiting to hear from the linebacker, reserving their judgment till they hear more about his side of the story.
a fter a season in which the notre dame student body rallied around Te’o, it is time he answered their questions — honestly, openly and fully.
“i think the students of notre dame and fans in general deserve to know what exactly happened with this,” sophomore John-paul Zebrowski said.
The original d eadspin report implicated Te’o in the hoax, but swarbrick and the university have vehemently denied that claim. The director of athletics described the player as an innocent victim and said the hoax “had a certain cruelty at its core.”
The motive for that cruelty is still unclear. s o is if Te’o ever attempted to speak with a long-distance girlfriend via video-chat programs like skype. reports continue to trickle out with conflicting details, and it’s hard to know Te’o’s motivation for speaking so passionately about an online relationship. none of this is lost on students.
“ w hy didn’t he just put the details to rest earlier and why did this thing have to unroll so far?” sophomore v ictoria k asznica asked. “ w hy did he take advantage of this to maybe gain the sympathy of others, or why didn’t he put an end to the false rumor earlier?”
i n addition, the university’s delays in revealing the hoax have raised eyebrows. Te’o waited to act on the situation until he went home for c hristmas on d ec. 21 because he wanted to speak with his family about it in person, swarbrick said. w hen he returned to campus d ec. 26, Te’o alerted head coach brian kelly and defensive coordinator bob d iaco before swarbrick
was notified. a yahoo! sports report also claimed the university expected Te’o to reveal the hoax himself earlier this week before d eadspin. com broke the story. These long silences are just more confusing developments along the hoax’s timeline.
“[The students deserve to know] why the news came out so late,” Zebrowski said.
For a player whose off-thefield qualities were so central to his on-field persona, Te’o’s answers to the questions facing him will determine what comes of a legacy that once appeared to be so magnificent.
“i feel so bad for the guy and i mean, in order to clear his name and make him continue to be the outstanding individual he is both inside and out, i think he does need to clarify a few things that people are wondering, like ‘ were you at any moment part of this scandal?’” junior c hris
Associated Press
aurora, colo. — The colorado theater where 12 people were killed and dozens injured in a shooting rampage last year reopened Thursday with a somber remembrance ceremony and a screening of the latest “hobbit” film for survivors — but the pain was too much, the idea too horrific, for many aurora victims to attend.
“we as a community have not been defeated,” aurora mayor steve hogan told victims, officials, and dozens of police officers and other first responders who filled half the theater’s seats at the ceremony.
“we are a community of survivors,” hogan declared. “we will not let this tragedy define us.”
pierce o’Farrill, who was wounded three times in the shooting, said: “it’s important for me to
come here and sit in the same seat that i was sitting in. it’s all part of the healing process, i guess.”
o’Farrill walked to an exit door inside the theater where he remembers the shooter emerging.
“The last time i saw (the gunman) was right here,” he said.
James holmes, a former neuroscience ph.d. student, is charged with 166 felony counts, mostly murder and attempted murder, in the July 20 shooting at the former century 16 — now called the century aurora. a judge has ordered holmes to stand trial, but he won’t enter a plea until march. several families boycotted what they called a callous public relations ploy by the theater’s owner, cinemark. They claimed the Texas-based company didn’t ask them what should happen to the theater. They said cinemark emailed them an invitation to Thursday’s reopening just two
days after they struggled through christmas without their loved ones.
“it was boilerplate hollywood — ‘come to our movie screening,’” said anita busch, whose cousin, 23-year-old college student micayla medek, died at the theater.
The remembrance was followed by a private screening in the former theater nine of the fantasy film “The hobbit: an unexpected Journey.” victims have filed at least three federal lawsuits against cinemark holdings inc., alleging it should have provided security for the July 20 midnight showing of “The dark knight rises,” and that the exit door used by the gunman to get his weapons and re-enter should have had an alarm. in court papers, cinemark says the tragedy was “unforeseeable and random.”
brandt said. “i mean, i don’t think he is, and the answer to
that would be probably ‘no, i wasn’t a part of it, i was totally fooled.’”
“I feel so bad for the guy and I mean, in order to
clear his
name and
make
him continue
to be
the outstanding individual he is both inside and out, I think he does need to clarify a few things that people are wondering.”
Chris Brandt junior
The student body rallied around Te’o not only as a leader on a football team rising from disappointing past seasons, but also as a tangible symbol of what it means to be notre dame. he was a brother to students, and the latest in a proud tradition. w hen he was hurting, his university family embraced him as one of its own.
manti’s peers listened to the story of his sorrow and helped it become a story of success. now, they are asking their brother for the story again. The full one. now, it is manti’s story to tell.
Contact Allan Joseph at ajoseph2@nd.edu and Megan Doyle at mdoyle11@nd.edu.
The views expressed in this column are those of the authors and not necessarily those of The Observer.
paid a dverT isemen T
a s a political science major with a focus in comparative politics, i ’d like to offer a comparative analysis of two vacation/clubbing/debauchery hotspots i recently had the chance to experience: l as vegas and m iami.
i participated in the “ d omer bomb” of 100 plus seniors destroying our internal organs and checking accounts in the desert wasteland of the west this past fall break. n ow, i know vegas has the reputation of being a college-aged male’s paradise, and it is certainly oriented toward the less-fair gender. o riented towards draining every ounce of dignity and currency from our beings. l as vegas at night is truly an amazing experience. The clubs are pretty much everything they’re cracked up to be and then some. That being said, i paid 15 dollars for a whiskey and diet soda. Fifteen dollars. Two hours of minimum wage, or about 100 hours of toiling away as a lowly n ews e ditor (we don’t do this for the paycheck). i f you’re not prepared to drop an ungodly sum of money on bottle service or arrive at 8 p.m., you had better be rolling with a harem of ladies, at least providing a one-to-one ratio. o therwise, expect to spend the evening raging at a hot dog stand.
l as vegas during the day is cringeworthy. i t is packed with predominantly older tourists and people shamelessly flicking cards at you containing pictures of scantily-clad women named Jazmin or d estinee and a phone number. e verything remotely close to the s trip is outrageously pricy, dirty and awful. b asically, spend the daylight hours nursing that hangover at the pool or wolfing down i n- n - o ut. s econd bit of advice: d on’t get in any “free limos” after 3 a.m. Just don’t.
m iami, on the other hand, might actually be paradise. i ts clubs are just as clutch as those in vegas but are substantially less skeezy, there are beaches everywhere and literally every local is beautiful. To be fair, it is also outrageously expensive and touristy. a lso, i ’m told the setting is not favorable for i rish athletics, but don’t quote me on that.
r ather than play the odds at another domestic destination for s pring b reak, we’re just cutting our losses and fleeing the country. we chose a tropical location because, being even farther south than m iami and a safe distance from vegas, geography is in our favor.
i really can’t make it any clearer than the headline. as i sit writing this in my dorm room, the Tv in the background is informing me that it has been one month since the horrific shooting at sandy hook elementary school in newtown, conn. on dec. 14, when most of us were eagerly awaiting the beginning of winter break and finishing our last exams, the students of sandy hook, ranging in age from five to 10 years old, survived what can only be described as a living hell. anyone reading this undoubtedly knows the senseless events of that day. i can only refer to them as tragic because no words i can find aptly describe the horror experienced by the children and their loved ones. nor, for that matter, can i even begin to imagine how the children and their loved ones would feel. however, my goal is not to write a thoroughly depressing piece trying to make sense of the senseless and wicked. The sandy hook elementary school shooting was the act of a madman. The reason i am writing about it now, though, is because it was specifically the act of a madman with a gun (make that several guns).
Following any tragedy involving multiple gun deaths, the conversation eventually turns to renewed political efforts for stricter gun control. however, this is only after a large dissenting group claims that we, as a country, need to wait until the wounds begin to heal. They claim it is wrong to use the tragedy as political motivation. They say now is not the time to discuss gun control.
Tell me something, then: when is the
time? certainly the time for real gun control was before 27 people died in newtown, most of whom had barely begun their lives. it was before six people died at the sikh Temple of wisconsin in august, and before 12 people died in an aurora, colo. ,movie theatre in July. The time to affect change on the united states’ pitifully lax gun laws was before people started dying. but dwelling on the past does no good for the future, so we need to turn our focus now to assuring events like Friday’s never again befall this country.
i live in chicago (actual chicago, not the surrounding suburbs) and in 2012, chicago reported 506 homicides. Through some simple calculations, one can deduce that chicago experienced an average of more than one homicide per day during the previous year. in the infancy of this new year, chicago has already reported 82 shootings (though not all fatal). every night i make the unfortunate choice to watch the news at home, i inevitably see several reports of gun violence or death within the city. The victims are not seasoned gang members or hardened criminals, either. They are often children and innocent bystanders who suffered from a case of mistaken identity. is it actually acceptable to live in a society where people shoot, then think?
i understand by this point, many who disagree with me have already stopped reading because i am neglecting the constitutional implications of practical gun control and because they have already labeled me as another liberal with a pipe dream for peace. i gladly accept that label and wear it proudly because i do not think an end to gun violence is all that unimaginable. nor, for that matter, do i think the second amendment can any
longer justify the thousands of senseless slayings in this country. i defend the notion that the constitution is a living document, not a killing document, as the second amendment has tragically allowed it to become.
people often use the principle of original intent to defend certain constitutional clauses and amendments. The framers of the constitution were many things, but stupid was not one of them. how could they have possibly have known allowing for the right to bear arms would eventually lead to close to 10,000 needless deaths per year? certainly they did not envision a country in which the homicide total consistently exceeds that of almost every other industrialized country in the world combined. i lament to say events like those in newtown are the price americans pay for their gun “rights.”
That being said, i do not know exactly how to enact true gun control in our country. i do not know if the comprehensive plan recently proposed by the white house will yield results. i do know it will be one of the most daunting tasks this nation has ever seen because the united states has sadly developed a gun culture in which people feel it is their god-given right to own a firearm. but i’m not done thinking yet, and neither are the best minds in the world. i doubt we ever will be. For now, all i know is the rabid gun culture needs to end. now.
Jack Rooney is a freshman studying political science. He can be contacted at jrooney1@nd.edu
The views expressed in this column are those of the author and not necessarily those of The Observer.
This writer is among a select few who personally witnessed every n otre d ame- a labama football clash, including the d iscover bcs national c hampionship game roil earlier this month at the o range b owl in m iami. i nitially at the 1973 s ugar b owl — in those days simply labeled “ s ugar b owl c lassic” unlike today with an onslaught of commercial sponsorships — a labama first faced n otre d ame in what would become a handful of cultural, religious and political clashes masked in the form of football contests. The i rish s ugar b owl win inaugurated a string of several national championship “steals” perpetrated against the a labama c rimson Tide. s o this month’s brutal snatching of the title from n otre d ame is, for a labama fans, a deserved payback.
b eneath the niceties of both universities lie great football traditions and an evolution of student bodies. n otre d ame morphed from a fledgling coeducational and substantially blue-collar student body in the early 1970s to a more homogenous, “The n orth Face” fashionable affluent c atholic finishing school. a labama maintained its longtime public coeducational institutional stature, but now includes a markedly increased racial minority makeup from that of the late 1960s. The most notable difference this year compared to 1973
— and an amazing testament to our nation’s civil rights strides — was the large number of a frican- a merican fans following both a labama and the i rish throughout s outh b each. Four decades ago, only a few fans of any non-white heritage roamed b ourbon s treet in support of either team.
b ack in the 1970s both fan groups overtly displayed stereotypical disdain for each other. a fter the 1973 win, notre d ame fans greeted the new year by twisting the lyrics of an a labama cheer: “ r oll Tide, r oll. ‘r ound the bowl and down the hole. r oll Tide r oll.”
i n the days leading up to the 1980 game at b irmingham l egion Field, a labama held “ r ed d ay” on campus with bumper stickers proclaiming “The m ighty c rimson Tide will Forever s hame the university of n otre d ame.” a local newspaper headlined, “ we’ve got to beat those d amn yankees.” however, a labama lost in a 7-0 shutout before their home crowd.
i rish defensive lineman s cott
Zettek told the Tuscaloosa n ews the negative barbs gave the team an extra motivation. “Their fans brought out the hate in us and made it … a holy war,” Zettek noted. “ it ended up bringing out the best in us. a labama has a class team, but i ’m a little suspect of their fans [who] are a little to be desired. They lose sight that it was just a football game. n o one died today. This was a shut-up game for their fans and should keep them quiet.”
i ronically, legendary coach b ear
b ryant never beat n otre d ame for the same reasons a labama dominated the i rish a week ago. d escribing his 1980 loss that knocked a labama out of national championship contention, b ryant said, “ it would be an understatement to say the best team won. we are not used to playing anybody as big and strong as n otre d ame.”
it may be too simplistic to characterize this year’s bcs participants by saying football is a way of life for a labama and a religion for notre d ame. b ut football is a way of life at a labama while at n otre d ame football is part soul. a labama fans live their football experiences like a concert pianist superbly caresses the ivory keys. They are technicians very skilled at executing their specialities. i rish fans enjoy football like a classical composer brilliantly crafts an iconic melody. They are creative masters very skilled at constructing their specialities.
n onetheless, a way of life becomes routine while still serving its pleasantries. a spiritual revival, conversely, is a rare opportunity to seize the moment a long time in the making. The bands embodied it when the a labama band walked silently onto the beach for their pep rally before hundreds while the n otre d ame band drummed and chanted “here come the i rish” for blocks to face thousands. The football programs also demonstrated their passions differently. The upstart i rish program saw firsthand how ‘b ama operates
at a well-refined championship level — which actually is a way of life for a labama.
c oach n ick s aban, his players and the a labama fans had come to finish their task like they had done the previous year and three years prior. They needed nothing more to take care of business. notre d ame fans were absorbed in emotion and zeal. w hile l ou holtz — the only coach to lose to a labama in a gallant effort during his first year of rebuilding a flailing program — extolled the virtues of playing for o ur l ady without adulation, my classmate had tears streaming down his face.
“The notre d ame i know,” he said, “offered us the possibility to go beyond our working class backgrounds to one day become successful. i ’m afraid that most of today’s students are from successful families so notre d ame no longer champions as many opportunities.”
h is tears swelled for a champion of our era, an expectation far removed from football crowns and crystal trophies.
Gary Caruso, a 1973 graduate of Notre Dame, serves in the Department of Homeland Security and was a legislative and public affairs director at the U.S. House of Representatives and in President Clinton’s administration. His column appears every other Friday. Contact him at: GaryJCaruso@alumni.nd.edu
The views expressed in this column are those of the author and not necessarily those of The Observer.
The Toolbox has always served as a column that aims to educate and inform its readership. yesterday, i read a dam n ewman’s article, “ i t’s time to do something about guns in a merica,” and was very interested in his claims. h owever, i noticed very few of the claims were substantiated by data, so i began to look into it a little further. First and foremost, i would like to start by agreeing with m r. n ewman in his assessment of the horrors of the 61 mass shootings that have occurred since 1982, and affirm that these occurrences are so frightening and tragic that i wholeheartedly agree we need to ensure these events do not occur. h owever, i am not going to preach about how i believe that should be done. r ather, in Toolbox fashion, i want to point out some interesting statistics many people either do not know or simply ignore when making claims about how to fix gun violence. n ow, let’s look at some of the examples of egregious spree killings m r. n ewman pointed out: s andy h ook, c olumbine, v irginia Tech and Fort h ood. w hat do they all have in common? yes, they were
all sites of horrifying mass killings, but what else? h ow about the fact they were all, by law, gunfree zones. yes, even Fort h ood. a s a military base, laws passed in 1993 do not allow soldiers to carry around firearms unless the base itself is under military threat at that moment. The other sites were all schools, which are gun-free zones to keep children safe. The designation of gun-free zone identifies that location as an area full of unarmed people, marking these spots as easy targets.
This unintended consequence of these well-intentioned rules demonstrates the paradox of implementing guns laws: the only people the laws will affect are law abiding citizens. b y definition, criminals are individuals who defy the law. s o if someone is set on performing a shooting, which is clearly against the law, what is going to stop them from defying another law to get a gun?
a s it turns out, not much. 93 percent of gun-related crimes are committed with an illegally obtained firearm. n ow consider that in 2011 there were 760,000 incidents of law abiding a merican citizens using firearms to defend themselves from a crime.
m any will say there is no need
for an assault rifle, that the s econd a mendment should allow people to have hunting guns but shouldn’t protect weapons designed to wage war. i f you read the s econd a mendment, you will notice it is designed to keep citizens armed in the event they needed to overthrow their government. a t the time, that weapon would have been the musket, and today that would be a weapon designed for combat, such as a semiautomatic assault rifle (this argument does not include fully automatic machine guns, as those are already extremely heavily regulated).
n ow, all firearms are not created equal. i will be the first to tell you an 18th-century musket is not nearly as scary a weapon as a modern assault rifle. a s m r. n ewman points out, assault rifles have become a major issue in the u nited s tates. These weapons of war are by and away the scariest weapons on the streets, right?
a ssault rifles represented approximately 0.6 percent of all gun murders in the u nited s tates in 2011. This astounding statistic means the terrifying, military grade weapons the u nited s tates’ armed forces use represent a tiny fraction of gun related incidents. i n fact, 2011 F bi data records 323
murders in the u nited s tates with a rifle of any kind, including assault weapons. To put that in context, that means these weapons “designed for warfare,” in addition to all other rifles, combined in 2011 for 173 less kills than hammers and clubs (496) and 1371 less kills than knives (1694).
a s i said before, i won’t tell you how i would fix the gun problems we have in the u nited s tates, because frankly i have no idea. m aybe the solution is increasing the laws to prevent people from getting guns. m aybe it requires an ideological shift in the u nited s tates away from the thought crime is acceptable. w ould you be surprised to learn a merica has seven times as many people per 100,000 in prisons as e urope does? 0.7 percent of all a merican adults are in prison. That stat is high enough to make a merica number one in the world in incarcerations per capita. r egardless, we need to ensure we have all the facts before we make a decision on our gun laws.
Austin Lagomarsino is a junior aerospace engineering major. He can be reached at alagomar@nd.edu
The views expressed in this column are those of the author and not necessarily those of The Observer.
By MIKO MALABUTE scene writer
we all remember when “a merican idol” was extremely popular, right? we all remember what it was like being in school in 2005, asking each other on wednesday morning, “did you see ‘a merican idol’ last night?” heck, even your teacher would take away from the lecture Thursday morning just a bit to allude to and discuss wednesday night’s results. everyone believed that becoming an “a merican idol” was nothing short of the a merican dream, what with prominent names like kelly clarkson, carrie underwood and clay a iken. wait a minute, clay a iken? a s in the runner-up in the second season to “a merican idol” winner ruben studdard? now, if you answered “yes” or “w ho’s ruben studdard again?” to the previous question, therein lies the interesting predicament with the currently
12-season strong T v show “a merican idol.” a nd since we are fortunate enough to get to see phillip phillips, winner of the eleventh season and best known for the song “home” live at legends tomorrow night, it begs the general maxim: for every phillip phillips, there’s a Taylor hicks (who?). yes, unfortunately winning “a merican idol” yields wildly inconsistent results and absolutely no reassurance of fame (see: Fantasia barrino). a s a matter of fact, after a quick search of “a merican idols: w here a re They now?” e ! online reports that hicks starred in a broadway production of “grease,” although on the flip side of things “[his] snow patrol fan base largely abandoned him afterward, however: he was dropped from his record label and his follow-up album, on his own label, bombed”. studdard, as reported by the same site, was dumped by his record label along with hicks. Though, in studdard’s defense, he
scored a grammy nomination and is the fifth-best-selling a merican idol winner. not to mention mama malabute always used to tell me that even if kelly clarkson seemingly pops up every now and then on the radio, it’s hard to attribute it to much other than the fact that she was the first “a merican idol” winner. now no one loves to laugh at hard times or struggles, but it is quite interesting to see exactly how volatile the life of an “a merican idol” must be. because, after all things considered, there have been many largely successful “a merican idols” – some not even winners or runners-up. There are many examples of success, such as the aforementioned a iken, the runner-up in season two who released a few platinum albums and even took his talents to broadway. next was underwood, winner of season four, arguably one of the most popular country artists in a merica, and parttime actress, appearing in shows such
as “how i met your mother.” Jordin sparks was the winner of season six and released one of my personal favorite songs, “no a ir,” with chris brown. even an absolutely horrible audition tape by contestant william hung in season three netted him his fifteen minutes of fame, turning him from a nobody to a somebody, even if he completely mangled r icky martin’s “she bangs”. Finally, there is phillips, who is coming to legends this saturday night and was the winner of the latest season by a record 132 million votes. he also has the best-selling coronation song “home” which is largely well-known for its use in the nbc coverage of the 2012 london olympics.
phillip phillips will be performing live at legends of notre dame on saturday, Jan. 19 at 10:00 p.m.
Contact Miko Malabute at mmalabut@nd.edu
By LIZZY SCHROFF
s cene writer
Tonight at 10 p.m., canadian indie band walk off the earth comes to notre dame to perform at legends nightclub. Formed in 2006, walk off the earth is composed of multi-instrumentalist members gianni luminati, sarah blackwood, ruan marshall, mike Taylor and Joel cassady. The band first found success with covers of songs by The gregory brothers. over the past year, this band jumped immensely in video views on youtube, most notably with their cover of gotye’s “somebody That i used to k now.” impressively, walk off the earth has garnered its fan base independently of record labels, agents or managers. so to get ready for Friday’s show, let’s take a look at some of their
finest moments.
gotye’s “somebody That i used to know” is a real gem with a whopping 144.5 million hits on youtube. a ll five members of the band cover this summer hit on one guitar. yes, one guitar. no one has any elbow room and it looks extremely uncomfortable, but it is truly unique. a nd one cannot help but be amused by the beanie-donning, bearded member on the far left Taylor, who intermittently plays the little strings on the headstock. one can’t help but be reminded of will Ferrell’s cowbell skit on “saturday night l ive.”
in “l ittle boxes,” the entire set –from the walls and floors to a sofa and television – is made out of cardboard. Featuring homemade instruments such as empty wrapping paper rolls, guitars and a percussion instrument made out
of wooden boxes, the song itself is cute and folky-sounding, where “everything comes out the same.” There’s definitely some profundity in that lyric.
The video for “red hands” looks like it was a blast to film. set in a warehouse outfitted with swinging light bulbs and spotlights, the video features members of the band shooting confetti out of cannons, banging on dusty drums and jamming out on their instruments. The camera zooms from the foreground and background of the set, and there is plenty of shifting scenes and movement from the band. Fully expect yourself to be belting out the chorus in no time.
Taylor swift’s “i k new you were Trouble” featuring krnFX is simply set with a window and a few house plants. This video focuses on the band members, no crazy instruments or quirky
concepts. Just four members of the band a cappella-ing it up while krnFX lays down some sweet beat-boxing. if you’re a fan of notre dame’s beloved undertones or saint mary’s lovely group bellacappella, you’re sure to enjoy this.
“gang of r hythm” is like a mini, modern, musical version of “o’ brother, w here a rt Thou?” The tune is upbeat and, well, it has plenty of rhythm! Four members of the band, clad in striped jail outfits and chains, escape the evil clutches of sheriff mike Taylor (our bearded, beanie friend). The song makes you want to get up and dance (or perhaps make a jailbreak?) with its catchy guitar and ukulele, charming harmonies and heart-pounding drumbeat.
Contact Lizzy Schroff at eschro01@saintmarys.edu
By SAM STRYKER a ssistant managing e ditor
before the nba season started (that’s professional basketball for you non-athletically inclined folks) the los a ngeles lakers, one of the most storied franchises in a merican sports, looked primed to make a run at a title. Fittingly for the hollywood squad they had assembled a team of stars, from franchise legend kobe bryant to offensive genius steve nash, big man dwight howard and euro wiz pau gasol. but then the season started and the big-budget lakers flopped. coach mike brown was fired, kobe squabbled with howard, and now the lakers — a preseason title contender — will have to make a run for the ages just to make the playoffs. w hat does this have to do with the recently-released “gangster squad”? unfortunately, everything. on paper, this gangster movie should be a slam-dunk success. you’ve got oscarwinner sean penn headlining the cast and two of the biggest current stars in hollywood, ryan gosling and emma stone, looking to rekindle their “crazy stupid love” romance. Throw in a sternfaced Josh brolin and “Zombieland” director ruben Fleischer for good measure, and it would seem producers found the recipe for cinematic success.
but not so fast. “gangster squad” is more style than substance. based on a true story (yeah, we’ve all heard that one before) the film takes place in los a ngeles in 1949. mobster mickey cohen rules the streets and owns the lapd This isn’t what lone sheriff good-guy sergeant John o’mara (brolin) fought to protect in world war ii and he looks to take out cohen, much to the chagrin of his pregnant wife. o’mara is recruited by the lapd chief to assemble an off-the-books outfit to wreak havoc on cohen’s operation, and he is only too happy to oblige.
sounds great, right? The flash of golden age hollywood, an a-list cast and a sizzling plot seem to come together in “gangster squad,” but the movie falls flat on its face. Fleischer is clearly a clever director, but he can’t seem to decide what type of movie he is making here. “gangster squad” is almost a parody of the stereotypical gangster movie, but without actually being funny. The characters are too one-dimensional for their own good — cohen a cursing ball of fury, o’mara a force that will stop at nothing to do good, Jerry wooters (gosling) a bad-boy cop who falls for the girl and grace Faraday (stone) the woman trapped in a relationship with the mobster.
a ll of the characters are in their place
to advance the plot, but we never really learn much about any of them. w hy does cohen want to rule los a ngeles? w hy does o’mara care so much when he knows no one else does? w hy is Faraday trapped? These are questions that never are really answered in the film. unfortunately, by not addressing this, “gangster squad” seems like it is going through the mob movie motions, without actually trying to achieve anything great.
To be fair, “gangster squad” is a visually stunning movie. seeing los a ngeles in the throws of a golden age — albeit one tainted by the mob — is incredible, and the attention to detail, from costumes to architecture, is astute. additionally, the on-screen charm of gosling is undeniable. i would pay the price of admission just to see him read names from a telephone book (luckily, he does a lot more in “gangster squad”) but that only makes the underdeveloped relationship between wooters and Faraday that much more disappointing. it also must be noted that “gangster squad” was pushed back from its original release date following the movie theater shootings this past summer in aurora, colo. The film was to feature a scene set in the legendary grauman’s chinese Theatre where characters shot through the movie screen. The movie
was pushed back and the scene was reshot (but seems to be just as violent as the original). That brings up another complaint — sometimes “gangster squad” seems violent for the sake of being violent. The topic of how media portrayals of violence impact society are not for this film review, but sometimes the shoot-‘em-up style of “gangster squad” is a bit excessive.
it’s too bad “gangster squad” turned out the way it did. There would have been no easy way to fix this movie — it is deeply flawed — but despite its shortcomings, there are glimmers of what could have been. unfortunately, the movie is self-aware without providing commentary on the genre, more formulaic than clever.
Contact Sam Stryker at sstryke1@nd.edu
Director: Ruben Fleischer
Starring: Sean Penn, Ryan Gosling and Emma Stone
By COURTNEY COX s cene e ditor
a nyone who has ever returned home from college for a long break with their parents probably knows how much moms love being moms. with so much physical space between them and their offspring they have tons of pent-up nagging that they just can’t stop themselves.
“guilt Trip” is for anyone who has ever resented the microscope that is living with parents.
seth rogen plays a ndy brewster, the somewhat-dry creator of an all-natural cleaning agent called “scio-clean.” he returns to his childhood home for a few days before beginning a product tour that would take him from new Jersey through las vegas.
his long-widowed mother Joyce brewster, played by barbara streisand, has a solid group of girlfriends but after realizing how alone she is without a man
in her life, a ndy begins to feel guilty for never returning home after college.
To make up for lost time he invites her along on his road trip, and what ensues is essentially a 90-minute summation of any parent-child relationship.
once they get going a ndy realizes what a huge mistake he has made. between Joyce’s insistence that he get every bargain possible, her odd choice of in-car entertainment and her obliviously embarrassing habits, a ndy is clearly the portrait of silent suffering.
as they go on in their journey a ndy learns tricks that help improve his business pitch and he teaches Joyce that she needs to open up her life for new men to come into her life and make her happy once again.
The movie was almost universally ripped to shreds by critics, but it does have something that tends to be overlooked by most of the people who panned it. it’s charming in a way that
many family comedies haven’t been able to pull off.
it captures the love between a family despite all the times it might seem appealing to have parents who are quiet and essentially not obnoxious. streisand and rogen have chemistry perfectly akin to any overbearing mother and her son. he is polite and reserved, never losing his patience with her misplaced concern until it becomes altogether too much.
w hat i was most nervous about going into the film is that streisand would be forced to play an entirely unlovable shrew with very few redeemable qualities. luckily it was quite the opposite. she was just like any normal mother who wants the best for her son.
The supporting cast was intentionally weak. There were truly no standout characters aside from rogen and streisand and that made the bond between them much more apparent.
The story itself may not have been groundbreaking. That’s true. but that was never the intention. it wasn’t a piece of high cinema, but instead a lighthearted silly movie about how hard it is to be a parent when your kids leave the nest and on the flipside how hard it is to be an adult when your parents just want you to stay a kid forever.
Contact Courtney Cox at ccox3@nd.edu
“Guilt
Paramount Pictures
Director: Anne Fletcher
Starring: Barbra Streisand, Seth Rogen and Julene Renee-Preciado
with the rise in social media in the last few years, athletes and fans are more connected now than ever. your average Joe the plumber can tweet at lebron James, like Tim Tebow’s sunday bible passage, and watch chris bosh’s used car salesman attempt on repeat on youTube. of course, all good things can turn ugly when they are overdone. in the world of athlete-fan interactions, that shadowy place is the land of the reality television show.
last week, a merica’s favorite grill-donning gold medalist, ryan lochte, announced that he would debut a new reality series, “w hat would ryan lochte do,” on e ! in april. it’s one thing for the olympian to cameo in Team usa’s “call me maybe” music video or even to trademark his signature phrase, “Jeah!” (which, by the way, has yet to really take off).
however, lochte’s seemingly witless persona has descended into pure annoyance with this new series. it’s fair to say that a mericans got their fill of befuddled laughs at the swimmer’s expense when he picked auburn as the winner of the Texas a&m-lsu matchup on college gameday last october. hearing more foolish remarks from lochte on a regular basis will change his appearance from an endearing goofball to an overexposed nuisance, if he has not crossed that line already.
The problem with reality T v series is that they take self-promotion to a new level that need not be reached. For the most part, the athletes appearing on these shows have sunk into some phase of obscurity and want to hoist themselves back to relevance. Terrell owens, always one to stir up feelings of disdain and irritation, will participate in Fox’s “stars in danger: The high dive,” a celebrity diving competition this spring with the likes of other has-beens, including J woww and multiple real housewives of beverly hills. T.o needs a show like this to stay relevant in pop culture since no team picked him up from free agency this fall. in lochte’s case, he can only make major headlines every four years, so the fame-seeking olympian needs
another source of notoriety. regardless of their motivations for trying to reenter the minds of a mericans, there is a reason that these stars have faded from the spotlight. perhaps they should heed that fact instead of making fools of themselves on national television, or in the cases of owens and lochte, making fools of themselves once more. not only do reality shows hurt athletes’ images in the eyes of the fans, but they also seem to affect their game. Take a look at the kardashian series alone. lamar odom certainly has not prospered in the time since his ascent from supporting role on “keeping up with the kardashians” to star of the aptly-titled “k hloe and lamar” with his wife, k hloe kardashian odom. his points-per-game average dropped from 14.4 to 6.6 post-trade from the lakers to the mavericks and post-debut the spinoff, and his activity on the clippers this season has diminished even more, currently netting 3.6 points per game, a career low.
Two other stars, reggie bush and miles austin, have also seen their numbers shrink on the gridiron immediately after frequent appearances on kardashian shows. (i would say three, but that would mean admitting k ris humphries was a star in the first place.)
of course, the connection between gaining fame and losing game in conjunction with reality television series is not scientifically proven by any means. however, it is hard to ignore this burgeoning trend. For a merica’s sake and sanity, lochte should keep off the small screen and stay in the pool, reappearing only when necessary, with the next time being rio in 2016. Fans should want their favorite players to stick to what brought them renown in the first place, athletics, before they take this gift for granted and lose it altogether. That being said, i’m sure there are a few nFl fans who wouldn’t mind ndamukong suh starring in his own new series next fall.
Contact Mary Green at mgreen8@nd.edu.
The views expressed in this Sports Authority are those of the author and not necessarily those of The Observer.
london — back in london and back on the basketball court, carmelo a nthony went right back to his winning ways.
The k nicks star was the main attraction at the o2 a rena on Thursday, five months after he helped the united states win the olympic gold medal at the same venue.
This time, he led the new york k nicks over the detroit pistons, 102-87 in the third regular-season nba game played in the british capital.
“it felt good out there,” said a nthony, who scored 18 points in the first half as the k nicks (25-13) jumped out to a big early lead. “i definitely had some flashbacks out there. running out there on the court, just being in the o2 a rena.”
part of a nthony’s strong showing against the pistons (14-25) may be attributed to his diet. he recently ended a twoweek fasting period, and definitely seems to be getting his strength back.
“i felt better than i was the last couple of games,” a nthony said. “i’m back eating right, eating what i’m supposed to be eating.”
a nthony has now scored at least 20 points in 25 straight games, extending the longest such streak of his career.
“he got off to such a hot start, and then he just kind of played as the game came to him,” k nicks coach mike woodson said. “he was getting doubleteamed and i thought he did a great job in sacrificing the basketball, which he has to do.”
a nthony’s hot start was no surprise for pistons coach lawrence Frank.
“you know going in, there’s no secrets, he’s the best firstquarter scorer in the league,” Frank said.
a mare stoudemire added 17 points for the k nicks and J.r smith scored 16. will bynum led the pistons with 22 points.
The pistons were the home team at the o2 a rena, but the crowd certainly
favored the k nicks and a nthony. it helped.
“This goes to show you, our sport is global, there’s no doubt about that,” woodson said.
“The fans tonight were fantastic both ways, especially for us.”
a fter Tayshaun prince netted a pair of free throws for the opening points of the game, the k nicks went on tear.
Tyson chandler started it off with a dunk, and a nthony soon followed with a pair of 3-pointers sandwiched between Jason k idd’s 3-pointer and chris copeland’s layup.
iman shumpert, in his season debut after recovering from knee surgery, nailed another 3-pointer soon after to complete the 16-0 run and put the k nicks in control.
“The k nicks got off to a great start,” bynum said. “we were kind of playing catch up from then on.”
Trailing 56-41 at the half, the pistons mounted a third-quarter comeback. They scored 10 straight points midway through the period amid their own 16-2 run to cut the lead to 67-63. a nthony ended the run with a pass rather than another basket.
The k nicks forward drilled a pass across the baseline to steve novak, who nailed a jumper. stoudemire then sank a free
throw before smith hit a jump shot after running the court with his own rebound. a nthony finished off the third quarter with a lay-in to make it 75-63. in the fourth, the pistons briefly cut the lead to single digits when bynum scored seven straight points to make it 8375, but the k nicks pulled away again — this time for good.
“we came here to win a game, so it’s very, very disappointing,” Frank said. “This is not a vacation. we’re not tourists. we came here to play a competition ... on an international stage, which is a privilege and an honor to be selected, so it’s disappointing that we came up short and didn’t play our best.”
The k nicks had won only three of their last eight games heading into Thursday’s action, but they now have won two straight and next host the brooklyn nets on monday.
For the pistons, who next host the boston celtics on sunday, it’s their second loss in a row. but they have still won five of the last eight.
The crowd at the o2 cheered loudly at times, but there were stretches of silence during some portions of the game. There was even a quiet moment before the game started, though it appeared to be an accident. AP
Two notre dame men’s soccer players were drafted in the first round of major l eague soccer’s 2013 superdraft on Thursday.
The columbus c rew selected senior forward r yan Finley with the ninth overall selection. Two picks later, the colorado rapids selected senior midfielder dillon powers. This is the first year two i rish
players have been selected in the first round.
Finley played his first two collegiate seasons at d uke before transferring to notre dame. despite coming off the bench in all 22 matches this season, he led the team in both goals (21) and points (46). both those totals were also second nationally. h is 21 goals were the fifth-highest single season total in program history. powers served as a team
paid a dverT isemen T
captain for the second straight season, and started all 22 games. he finished with career-highs in goals (five), assists (nine), and points (19). Three of his goals were game-winners. both players finished their senior seasons on the nscaa a ll-a merica First Team and a ll-big east First Team and helped the i rish to 17 wins, notre dame’s highest total in a season since 1988.
Associated Press
arlingTon, Texas — matt harrison has gone from a pitcher the Texas rangers left off their postseason roster to one they believe can become one of the league’s best left-handers.
The rangers finalized a $55 million, five-year contract with the a ll-star lefty Thursday. The deal includes a 2018 club option that could become guaranteed depending on the number of innings harrison pitches.
“This is a testament to all the hard work he puts in,” said Thad l evine, the team’s assistant general manager. “The talent shows up every time he pitches. ... The more we’ve gotten to know matt harrison, the more we believe in matt harrison. a nd we believe the best is yet to come.”
hours later, the rangers agreed with right-hander neftali Feliz on a $2.9 million, one-year contract to avoid salary arbitration.
harrison was 18-11 with a 3.29 era and four complete games in 32 starts last year, and his 3.10 era in 18 road starts was the lowest in the a merican l eague. o ver the past two seasons, since being left off the rangers’ postseason roster in 2010, he is 32-20 while throwing 399 innings.
Texas acquired harrison, Feliz and shortstop e lvis a ndrus from atlanta in July 2007 in a seven-player deal that sent mark Teixeira to the braves.
The 27-year-old harrison made his major league debut in July 2008, going 9-3 in 15 starts after being called up. a fter starting the 2009 season in the rotation, he started having issues with his left shoulder that eventually required seasonending surgery for Thoracic outlet syndrome to remove a rib to alleviate the situation.
“i was definitely on the other end of the spectrum than i am now. Things weren’t really going my way and i had a lot of hit-and-miss starts,” harrison said. “The biggest thing that led up to where i am today is just figuring out that mental toughness and the mental part of the game. The talent was there, it was just figuring out how to use it and use it the right way.”
The real turning point for harrison was the 2010 postseason. a fter being used primarily as a reliever throughout the regular season while coming back from surgery, he was left off the roster in the playoffs. he traveled with the team throughout the postseason, but was never active while the r angers went to their first world series.
“That moment of being left off the roster was a tough, tough month for me, a tough
offseason,” he said. “i finally grew up as a person and a man. mentally things started turning around for me, i started having more confidence in myself, success coming around. i started seeing another level come out of me. hopefully, i can continue to go from that and get better.” harrison has a career record of 48-30 with a 4.08 era in 126 games over the past five years, all with Texas.
h is deal calls for a $1 million signing bonus and salaries of $5 million this year, $8 million in 2014 and $13 million in each of the following three seasons. The agreement includes a $13.25 million team option for 2018 with a $2 million buyout, and the option would become guaranteed if harrison has 600 innings pitched or more from 2015-17, including at least 200 in 2017. The option price would increase by $250,000 each time he reaches 200 innings in the first five years, up to $15.75 million. That would increase the value of the deal to $68.75 million over six seasons.
harrison’s agreement, negotiated by agents sam and seth l evinson, got finalized two days after he had filed for salary arbitration, and also after he turned down an opportunity to pitch for the united states in the world baseball c lassic.
Feliz, the 24-year-old former closer who was moved to the rotation last spring, is recovering from Tommy John surgery to repair a tear in his right elbow and likely will be sidelined until at least this summer. he was 3-1 with a 3.16 era in eight games last season, including seven starts, before going on the disabled list in may.
david murphy, expected to be the everyday left fielder, also filed for salary arbitration this week. g eneral manager Jon daniels said the rangers felt they were close enough to think a deal would be reached, even if not completed, before they are required to exchange proposed salaries Friday.
w ith harrison under contract, the rangers have three of their starting pitchers signed for at least four more seasons with another under control for at least that long.
Japanese ace yu darvish last year signed a $56 million, sixyear deal with the rangers and then won 16 games as a major league rookie. There are provisions in his contract that could allow the 26-year-old righty to become a free agent after the 2016 season.
Texas has 26-year-old lefthander derek holland under contract through at least 2016, with club options for two more years after that. holland is planning to pitch in the wbc this spring.
By KATIE HEIT sports writer
a fter a stellar fall, the i rish will kick off the spring season when they host b owling g reen today at 4 p.m.
n otre d ame, which is ranked 19th in i T a preseason rankings, is looking for its sixth straight b ig e ast championship this season. The i rish have defeated b owling g reen all four times the teams have met, but they have not competed against the Falcons in team play since the 1988 season.
The i rish have not lost an opening-season match since 2004 and plan on extending that record. Junior Jennifer k ellner said the team has been working their minds as well as their bodies in preparation.
“ w e’ve been playing a lot [and] doing condition as well as mental training with the sports psychologist here,” k ellner said.
k ellner said the i rish plan on being one of the top teams in the country this season, with a berth in the ncaa tournament is always on the top of the list of team goals.
e ntering the season, n otre d ame has players in the preseason rankings for singles and doubles. Junior b ritney s anders reached the highest
By MARY GREEN sports writer
a fter returning from the sunny skies of p uerto r ico, no. 20 notre dame will kick off 2013 by renewing its long-standing rivalry with c leveland state in its final dual meet of the season.
undefeated in two-team contests, the irish (5-0) head east to the busbey natatorium in c leveland to face the v ikings (11-2-1), and coach Tim welsh hopes they maintain the progress they made over the break.
“i hope they take confidence from the trip and trust that they have done a whole lot of hard work and are ready to race really, really fast,” welsh said. “i want them to be eager to race.”
The team last swam in an official meet at the hawkeye invitational in iowa in the beginning of december, where they finished second overall behind no. 1 m ichigan. Though the copa coqui meet, which took place during the team’s winter break training trip to p uerto r ico, counted only as an exhibition, the squad swam to a first-place finish over tough competition.
ranking of her career, sitting at 58th in the i T a singles poll. The duo of s anders and junior doubles partner Julie s abacinski is ranked 20th in the preseason after completing their first fall season together.
k ellner and sophomore doubles partner m olly o ’ k oniewski will make their regular season debut as partners ranked 40th. k ellner said she looks forward to see what her team will bring to every competition this season.
“ i think this team is really talented,” she said. “ m ore than anything we are extremely driven. i ’m excited for what everyone has to bring.”
w hile the start of a new season can be stressful, k ellner said the i rish are eager to hit the court and see what they can do.
“The start of a new season is really exciting,” she said. “ b ut it can also be very nerve wracking. i think we’ve all put in the hard work and tough training, so i think everyone on the team deserves to be prepared for this conversation.”
The i rish will welcome b owling g reen to the e ck Tennis p avillon on Friday at 4 p.m.
Contact Katie Heit at kheit@nd.edu
in that contest against a rmy, connecticut and several p uerto r ican schools, junior colin babcock, sophomore cameron m iller and freshman bogac ayhan took home in-
“Cleveland
State is one of our longestrunning rivalries, and they’ve had a great season so far, so we’re looking forward to having a strong meet.”
Tim Welsh Irish coach
dividual wins in the 200-yard individual medley, 100-yard breaststroke and 100-yard backstroke, respectively. reflecting on the season thus far, welsh remains impressed by his team’s growth and improvement since their first meet.
“we’ve gotten faster, we’ve had more training, we’re in better shape, we’ve gotten a little more experience, especially our younger swimmers, and we’ve really competed
paid a dverT isemen T
well, especially right before christmas,” he said.
welsh says that his swimmers will use this last, finalsonly meet to prepare for their two invitational events, the shamrock i nvitational at the rolfs aquatic center and the northwestern i nvitational in evanston, i ll., before they head to the big east championship meet in late February.
“This is our last tune-up meet since the next two weeks are both multiple-session meets, so this is our last dress rehearsal before we go live [for the big east championships],” he said.
The team will look to use this matchup against a familiar foe as a springboard into those bigger meets.
“c leveland state is one of our longest-running rivalries, and they’ve had a great season so far, so we’re looking forward to having a strong meet,” welsh said.
The irish will seek to remain undefeated in dual meets when they face the v ikings on Friday at 4 p.m. at the busbey natatorium in c leveland.
Contact Mary Green at mgreen8@nd.edu
wOMEn’s swiMMinG
By MATT UNGER sports writer
Fresh off wins against m ichigan and n orthwestern, the i rish women’s swimming and diving squad looks to defeat another b ig Ten foe when they travel to b loomington to face i ndiana on s aturday at the c ounsilman- b illingsley a quatic c enter. n o. 19 n otre d ame will face the h oosiers in the first meet between the in-state rivals since the 2002-03 season.
The two schools competed at the o hio s tate i nvitational in early d ecember, with the i rish finishing in fifth place
and the h oosiers taking seventh with their b squad. h owever, the h oosiers will present more of a challenge in this meet, according to sophomore e mma r eaney, with a full complement of swimmers racing on s aturday.
“They’ve been known for a while to be a strong swimming program,” r eaney said. “ b ut i think we’re well prepared from our meet last weekend to take them on.”
l ast s aturday, n otre d ame won 11 events en route to a 185-115 victory over the w olverines and a 205-95 defeat of the w ildcats.
r eaney attributed the i rish success to the team’s annual Florida training trip during c hristmas break.
“The training trip worked out really well,” r eaney said. “ i t was nice just to focus only on swimming during the trip, which made it real easy to see all the things to improve on.”
a gainst m ichigan and n orthwestern, r eaney and senior k im h olden each led the i rish squad with three individual event wins to lead the team to their first team victory against either b ig Ten opponent since the 2005-06 season.
r eaney set r olfs a quatic c enter records in the 100yard and 200-yard breaststroke events, shattering record times previously set by usc and us o lympic swimmer r ebecca s oni in 2007.
h er third win came in the 200-yard im , and all three of her victories earned ncaa b -cut times. Following her weekend successes, r eaney was named b ig e ast w omen’s s wimming and d iving a thlete of the w eek for the third time this season.
m eanwhile, h olden won the 100 and 200-yard backstroke and 100-yard fly and
finished with ncaa b -cut times in the first two.
“ k im is one of the hardest workers i ’ve met,” r eaney said. “ s he dealt with shoulder injuries last year, and it’s been inspiring to watch her swim this season.”
n otre d ame and i ndiana hit the pool at 11 a.m. s aturday in b loomington, i nd. Following the meet against i ndiana, the i rish will host Towson in the annual s hamrock i nvitational on Jan. 25-26 at the r olfs a quatic c enter.
Contact Matt Unger at munger@nd.edu
By MEGAN FINNERAN sports writer
a fter a two-month break, n otre d ame return to the courts s aturday for its season opener and final season with i rish coach b ob b ayliss before his retirement. They enter this season ranked n o. 30 in the nation, the highest among b ig e ast squads. n otre d ame will host m arquette and western i llinois, marking their first official team competition since early n ovember.
“ we’ve played a lot of practice matches to simulate the real thing and doubles is always a key focus as well,” senior b las m oros said of preparation during the offseason.
n otre d ame’s secured its national ranking recently, when four singles players and one doubles pair earned preseason rankings. Junior g reg a ndrews, who recorded a 7-5 record during the fall season, leads the way at n o. 80. h e went 4-2 against ranked opponents.
Junior b illy p ecor comes next behind a ndrews, ranked n o. 88, with m oros and sophomore w yatt m c c oy ranked n o. 110 and n o. 120, respectively.
The doubles pair of a ndrews and senior s pencer Talmadge is ranked n o. 51 to begin the spring after finishing the fall season 10-5.
n ow, the i rish look to carry their preseason accomplishments to the court.
“ d uring the season, practice tends to be more skill focused than fitness since we are playing and traveling so much,” m oros said. “ i t’s
a fine line between pushing our guys to the point of fatigue or injury and making sure we are in prime shape, but our coaches and strength coach know what they are doing and take great care of us.”
n otre d ame will first face m arquette, a team that went 10-13 in dual matches last season. The g olden e agles seek leadership mainly from experienced juniors l ogon c ollins and d an m amalat.
The i rish will also face western i llinois, allowing l eatherneck coach c hris k ane to return to his alma mater for the weekend. k ane’s squad finds leadership from freshman c hristoph h aertel and senior p atrick h ammers,
both of whom competed in the singles bracket of the i T a m idwest r egionals at the end of o ctober.
This first weekend back will give n otre d ame an opportunity to showcase its hard work.
“ we’ve been focusing a lot on becoming well rounded and complete players with everyone of course having their own specific talents and shot-making abilities,” m oros said.
p lay will begin with doubles competition at 11 a.m. s aturday against m arquette, followed by western i llinois at 5 p.m.
Contact Megan Finneran at mfinnera@nd.edu
By LAURA COLETTI sports writer
The irish are looking to continue the success they experienced at grand valley state’s bob eubanks open when they host the notre dame invitational on saturday.
south Florida, michigan state and depaul will all be traveling to the loftus center for the event.
notre dame senior pole vaulter and captain chrissy Finkel said that this weekend’s meet will serve as a good stepping stone for the team, as they continue to prepare for the big east championships in February.
“The notre dame invitational is a smaller meet in relation to the other [meets] we’ll be competing in this season,” she said. “south Florida is also in the big east so it’s great to compete against them with less pressure.”
since the meet at grand valley state, the team has focused on staying consistent with their lifting and workouts. because the track and field season is so long, it is important for the athletes to train carefully, Finkel said.
“certain individuals have been decreasing workouts in preparation for the meet, but there is a fine line between training for improvement and overtraining, which decreases meet performance,” she said. “our
By BRENDAN BELL sports writer
notre dame kicks off its 2013 campaign with the united states Fencing associations’ Junior Tournament in louisville, ky., today followed by a pair of dual meets at saint John’s and new york university. Thanks to an offseason of preparation and conditioning, the irish feel confident and prepared for the upcoming spring season. sophomore foil madison Zeiss, who placed 8th at ncaa nationals last spring, says the team has a great outlook for the spring season.
“last semester we focused mostly on conditioning,” Zeiss said. “we did a lot of drilling and it has been now more about focusing on tournament formats and preparation for competition.”
Zeiss noted the biggest challenge of the upcoming meets stems from the hectic nature of returning to school while also preparing for the season.
“Two weeks isn’t exactly enough time and it is difficult to get everyone on track,” Zeiss said, “but i think we have been working really hard on it and we will be ready to go for the meets.”
The irish have not competed since november, when women’s sophomore epee nicole ameli and men’s senior sabre Jason choy picked up a pair of silver medals during the garret open at pennsylvania state university.
The irish now start their spring campaign over the next two weeks. The primary events for the entire fencing team this month will take place on Jan. 26 and 27, when notre dame travels to saint John’s then new york university.
during the last few months, the irish aligned their goals for the upcoming season, both individually and, more importantly, as a team.
“our main goal is to win the national championship,” Zeiss said. “we have a bunch of returning olympians, and a much more unified team and a stronger presence from the captains this year.”
“we want to win ncaa
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championships,” she said. “under that we each have our own goals as well. we are really balanced and have traveled internationally and domestically gaining experience.” many of the bright spots for notre dame this year use the foil. The women are hoping one of their youngest members, freshman foil lee keifer, will lead the team. The men, on the other hand, hope to close out matches with senior foil gerek meinhardt. The usFa Junior championships starts today and concludes monday, in louisville, ky.
Contact Brendan Bell at bbell2@nd.edu
coaches do a great job of balancing the two.”
The irish will attempt to feed off of their recent victories and continue to perform at a high level this weekend. For the women’s squad, junior middle distance runner a lexa a ragon and her freshman sister danielle a ragon, who also competes in middle distance events, are expected to have strong races. The men’s side is expecting big things out of a pair of freshmen, distance runner michael clevenger and middle distance runner eric gebeke.
because the some of the athletes have not competed since early december, it is important for the athletes to regain confidence and compete well this weekend, Finkel said. This is also the first time the distance runners will be competing this winter, so the team hopes to see a strong performance to kick off their season.
“it’s great to have the entire team back for this meet, as only a small number of individuals returned for last weekend’s competition at grand valley state,” Finkel said. “we are a large team, and it’s fun when you get into a competition and can watch each member realize the result of all their hard work.”
Contact Laura Coletti at lcoletti@nd.edu
forward Steven Fogarty tries to backhand the puck past the Lake Superior State goalie during Notre
to this weekend to get vengeance on other opponents.”
that,” he said. “ i think we are a mature group enough to where we understand we can’t let this slip away from us.”
Johns said the defense can pick up the slack, but the i rish see this weekend as an opportunity to reestablish themselves.
“ i t’s the first time we have lost two in a row all year,” Johns said. “ you could definitely tell guys were kind of in shock. we didn’t expect to lose. i mean we never expect to lose, but to lose two in a row to teams we knew we should have beat, i think guys after the b owling g reen game were already looking
Johns said this mindset has been remained since the b owling g reen game on Jan. 15 and the i rish are prepared for the n anooks on Friday and s aturday.
“ we have some great leaders on this team who were reiterating how important this weekend is to us,” he said. “This could be a major decider for the rest of our season. s o, the guys are really making sure we play this weekend like it is our last weekend of the year. ... i think it is a huge weekend for us.”
Johns said returning home will be positive for n otre d ame, which has not played in the c ompton Family i ce
we need to come out and get off to a good start.” in its contest wednesday, st. John’s received contributions from all ten healthy players, as every participant in the game scored point. Freshman guard a liyyah handford in particular has been on a roll. she registered her fourth straight game in double figures against the panthers (9-7, 0-3). according to mcgraw,
keeping him off the backboard and not letting him run wild in the paint.”
a rena for more than a month.
“ p laying at home is awesome,” Johns said. “ you feel more comfortable and you get to go through your own routines in your own rink. Just being at home you feel better about yourself. ... you feel more confident, especially with the fans, not cheering a laska, not cheering other chants. we have been good at home this year and we are looking to keep it up.”
The i rish begin a fourgame home stand this Friday at 7:35 pm at c ompton Family i ce a rena, where they look to get back on track against a laska.
Contact Isaac Lorton at ilorton@nd.edu
first-year red storm coach Joe Tartamella has maintained most of the same schemes as his predecessor kim barnes arico while navigating much of the early season without a full roster.
“i think they are doing a lot of the same things [as last season], mcgraw said. “[Tartamella] has done a really good job with them. They had some injuries early in the year and they have responded well since then. i think personnel-wise it’s just really similar and the style of play i think is similar, also.”
in their 79-64 victory against georgetown on Tuesday, the irish turned the ball over a seasonhigh 28 times. mcgraw thinks notre dame will be able to easily correct their mistakes sunday.
“you know, [the turnovers] were interesting,” she said. “i watched all 28 of the turnovers and kind of categorized them. To me, it’s about if it’s a good decision and we weren’t successful at it or if it’s a bad decision, and i thought 25 of them were good decisions. we just, we lost the handle on the ball, we weren’t sharp
to value every one of them,’” brey said. “it’s the ebb and flow of what happens in league play. you have to be careful not to overreact … but, you know, to get a Jack cooley going again, to get [graduate student forward] scott martin going again, you need two good practices. They need to stick their nose in there, compete and hit the reset button — which happens in league play.”
against the scarlet k nights (11-4, 2-2), the irish will need to contend with a talented duo of sophomore guards in eli carter and myles mack. inside, cooley will matchup with another senior noted for his physical play, austin Johnson.
“against [former irish a lla merican forward luke] harangody, against cooley, [Johnson] has been a guy that’s been hard for us,” brey said. “certainly we’re going to have to have a special focus of
really just with the passing and catching part but the decision making was good, so i think we can fix that pretty quickly.” notre dame will attempt to move its big east record to 5-0 sunday at purcell pavilion. The ball tips against the red storm at noon.
Contact Cory Bernard at cbernard@nd.edu
rutgers coach mike r ice returned from suspension Jan. 2 and has his team at 2-2 in big east play, even with the irish. brey said his team will be up for the challenge from the scarlet k nights off the disappointment of it’s recent play.
“we’re in that mode that so many teams in this league get into right now, where we’re in search of one of those valuable one-game win streaks in big east play,” he said. “we’re thrilled to get back home and see if we can calibrate ourselves on saturday night against rutgers.
“i think we’ll be very prepared to play because we were disappointed, not only that we lost Tuesday, but that we lost at home to connecticut.”
notre dame and rutgers will tip-off saturday night at 8 p.m. in p urcell pavilion.
Contact Chris Allen at callen10@nd.edu
CELEBRITIES BORN ON THIS DAY: Zooey deschanel, 33; maksim chmerkovskiy, 33; Jim carrey, 51; betty white, 91.
Happy Birthday: don’t let emotional insecurity ruin your plans. strategize how you want to move forward throughout the year and strive to incorporate what’s most important to you. achieving your goals will take discipline, and letting uncertainty stand in your way must not be allowed. Take control and do whatever has to be done. your numbers are 6, 17, 23, 28, 34, 37, 44.
ARIES (March 21-April 19): don’t give in to emotional blackmail. you must stand up for your rights. a change may be necessary in order to get back on track and reach old goals that have been stifled due to other people’s demands.
TAURUS (April 20-May 20): Take charge and get on with what needs to be done. Travel if it will help you reach your goals. someone from your professional past will offer you a favor you should consider. making a geographical move will improve your quality of life.
GEMINI (May 21-June 20): add new skills to your resume. communication and education will go hand-in-hand, allowing you to pick and choose from a wider variety of options available to you in your area. don’t sell yourself short when you have so much to gain.
CANCER (June 21-July 22): Just because someone else makes changes doesn’t mean you should. evaluate your situation and consider how you can take advantage of what others give up or leave behind. recycle, redo and reuse, and you will establish a better position.
LEO (July 23-Aug. 22): a change at work should push you to take action before you end up in an awkward position. don’t set limits on what you can do. waiting for things to happen instead of making them happen will be your downfall.
VIRGO (Aug. 23-Sept. 22): attend an entertaining function that will lead to encounters that can alter your future positively. if you can imagine something, you can turn it into a reality. don’t gamble, but do invest in your skills, talents and future.
LIBRA (Sept. 23-Oct. 22): don’t feel guilty about the way you feel. put anyone trying to control you in place so that you can take advantage of a course, event or challenge that helps you advance. you will appreciate someone from your past and should reconnect if possible.
SCORPIO (Oct. 23-Nov. 21): mix and mingle with people from different backgrounds. remembering past experiences will help you understand a situation you face now. nurture a relationship that you cherish before it’s too late to salvage. say what’s on your mind.
SAGITTARIUS (Nov. 22-Dec. 21): look for adventure. getting together with people who share your love of life will also help you recognize what you need to incorporate into your life in order to enjoy it more. mix business with pleasure and see what happens.
CAPRICORN (Dec. 22-Jan. 19): Question your associates as well as your own motives before you make a move that can alter your life permanently. check the possibility of altering the way you approach something or someone and you will find a way to make a necessary transition smoothly.
AQUARIUS (Jan. 20-Feb. 18): discuss your feelings and address issues from your past that you have yet to resolve. clearing your mind from worry and regrets will help you realize what you want to do next. it’s never too late to make a change or revisit a goal.
PISCES (Feb. 19- March 20): do for others and you will receive a reward or favor that will help you out financially or contractually. Follow your intuition and you could come across an unlikely choice or situation that will turn a past loss into a winning situation.
Birthday Baby: you are passionate, sensitive and unpredictable. you are aggressive and determined.
BAskETBAll
By CHRIS ALLEN sports editor
a fter a disappointing road loss to st. John’s in new york on Jan. 15 brought the notre dame losing streak to two, the irish will look to rebound saturday night with a home contest against rutgers.
irish coach mike brey said his squad was discouraged to lose to the red storm.
“we had a disappointing night in new york. st. John’s really defended us,” brey said in a teleconference Thursday. “you have to give them a lot of credit, the way they came out and defended the three-point line and made us more into drivers. i was disappointed with how we defended, certainly, at key times in the game. we had a chance to escape with a win.”
in the loss to st. John’s, notre dame (14-3, 2-2 big east) played the deciding minutes of the second half with senior forward Tom k night on the floor in favor of senior captain and forward Jack cooley. cooley played only 18 minutes and scored 10 points in the loss. brey said k night will be the first big man off the bench, ahead of fellow senior garrick sherman.
“i think there was a pretty strong message sent the other night when we finished the game with [senior forward]
Tom k night and not [cooley], had a chance to win the game and Tom k night gave us great minutes,” brey said. “i think Jack as a senior, and a captain, looking at him this morning i think there was a different bounce about him.”
notre dame began big east play with impressive victories over seton hall and cincinnati before taking a step back
against connecticut at home and against the red storm. in a competitive and deep league, brey said he took steps to re-energize his team in practice.
“one thing i talked about in front of our team with our seniors is, ‘Fellas, you only have 15 guaranteed college games left in your career. i think we need
By ISAAC LORTON s ports w riter
a fter completing a fourgame road trip in seven days with a 1-3 record, the i rish look to return to their winning ways against a laska at home tonight. w hile away, n otre d ame (15-7-0, 11-30 ccha ) lost back-to-back games for the first time this season, to m ichigan s tate and b owling g reen.
The rough spell on the road does not worry i rish coach Jeff Jackson heading into the series with a laska (7-8-5, 6-7-3 ccha ).
“ well, it’s not a fluke,” Jackson said. “ b ut it’s not a trend either. b owling g reen is playing the best hockey they’ve been playing all season. m ichigan s tate, we have played four times within a month. a nd it’s hard to beat a team four times within a month. we had chances in that game but we selfdestructed a little bit in the second period.
“ m innesota is a game unto itself, because they are such a high-quality opponent on the road and we weren’t as sharp as we needed to be early in the stages of that game. ... They are all different games. i am not nervous at this point. i am just wanting to get through this weekend and get back to a normal routine.”
d uring the beginning of the season, the i rish struggled to match the intensity from the first to second period. Jackson said the team must maintain level of play throughout the game.
“ i think that it’s almost a little déjà vu, not from last season, but from the beginning of this season,” Jackson said. “ we overcame it during that stretch where we were winning games, but it’s about keeping that emotional level for three periods. r ight now, our second periods hurt us in each one of the four games and we had that issue early in the year. i t’s a competitive thing and a mindset. w hen we come off the ice at the end of the first, we have to make sure that mentally we are ready for that second period.”
Junior defenseman s tephen Johns said a successful weekend series against a laska will help secure n otre d ame’s spot atop the ccha , and, even more importantly, determine the trajectory of the team for the rest of the season.
“ e specially with our juniors and seniors this year, we all made it to the Frozen Four my freshman year and then the season we had last year, we don’t want to go through another thing like see Johns PAGE 18
By CORY BERNARD sports writer
The irish have begun their big east season with four straight wins, including a victory over then-top-ranked connecticut Jan. 5. on paper, no. 2 notre dame (15-1, 4-0 big east) should easily handle unranked st. John’s on sunday at purcell pavilion.
according to irish coach muffet mcgraw, however, the red storm (9-6, 3-0) possess the talent and poise to challenge the irish this weekend.
“They have got great guard play,” mcgraw said of st. John’s. “They beat connecticut last year ⎯ a huge win for them ⎯ and so they have the kind of players that have the kind of confidence to come in, especially to another opponent’s gym, and play really well. They
have got some good players inside, also, so they have really got a great balance to their team. They are good defensively, they can score a lot of points. They present a lot of challenges for us.” in its last two contests, st. John’s has blown out its opponents en route to an unblemished league record. The red storm topped seton hall 72-46 on saturday and routed pittsburgh 61-32 on wednesday. mcgraw said the irish will need to start fast in order to take advantage of their home court advantage and quell the red storm’s confidence. “i think it’s important for us to keep our crowd in the game,” she said. “[st. John’s is] undefeated in big east play, so they are coming in with a high level of confidence.
